Four Bradford Pear Bounty Events Scheduled in March Across South Carolina: Clinton Scheduled for March 30

South Carolina property owners will have four opportunities to participate in the Bradford Pear Bounty tree exchange in March.

This year’s events, presented by Duke Energy, will be held in Hampton on March 2, Marion on March 16, Van Wyck on March 23, and Clinton on March 30. The Clinton Tree Exchange will take place at Vance Park, 211 N. Broad Street, Clinton, from 8:00 to 11:00 am.

As reported previously on the Buzz, the Bradford Pear Bounty program is a collaborative effort between the South Carolina Forestry Commission and Clemson Extension. The program aims to educate landowners about the devastating impact of invasive-exotic plants such as Bradford pears on forests and encourages the use of native trees in urban landscapes.

The Bradford Pear Bounty event in Clinton offers homeowners an opportunity to remove Bradford pears from their property and replace them with native trees. Property owners who pre-register (click HERE) can exchange up to five Bradford pear trees for an equal number of free native replacement trees. In exchange for their free native trees, landowners must bring a photo of them with their cut down tree(s) to the event.

Bradford pears, with their uniform shape, profuse white flowers, and bright red fall foliage, have become a popular ornamental tree in the Southeast. Despite initially believed to be sterile, they began to cross-pollinate and produce abundant fruit, contributing to the spread of one of the worst invasive plant species in the Southeast – the callery pear.

This marks the fifth year of the Bradford Pear Bounty event, with its inaugural giveaway held in Clemson in February 2020.